Leighton-Linslade politicians at loggerheads over millions of pounds of unspent community money

Cllr Steve Owen (Lib Dem), of Barnabas ward, has written a strongly worded statement which criticises the “majority of town council Conservative councillors” and claims they needed to “stand up for the town”.

He alleges that Central Beds Council has £31m of unallocated S106 money for Leighton-Linslade from a pot of around £40m negotiated from developers in recent years. If unspent, the cash could revert back to those developers.

He argues that the town council should create a Neighbourhood Plan as soon as possible in order to create a “shopping list” of items - such as a new cycle bridge over the canal – on which this cash could be spent.

However, in response to the comments, a town council spokesman wished to remind LBO readers that it has “no statutory powers to decide planning applications” - indeed these fall to CBC – while Conservative councillor Clive Palmer strongly believes that the time is not right for a Neighbourhood Plan.

The partnership committee is due to meet in December and in early January, and the town council will then meet to consider its own position on a Neighbourhood Plan.

Cllr Owen’s posts on social media claimed: “The town’s infrastructure deficit stems from a failure over the past 10 years by the town council to ask for infrastructure, a failure by the majority of town council Conservative councillors to challenge their Conservative councillors at Central Bedfordshire Council, a failure by Leighton-Linslade CBC councillors to stand up for the town at Chicksands, and the failure of the Town Clerk to give muscular advice on town councillors’ obligations.

“They have all allowed the 2008 Big Plan to wither and repeatedly opposed generating a replacement Neighbourhood Plan for the town that is part of national government planning policy and which the majority of town and parish councils in a Central Bedfordshire are pursuing with CBC encouragement.

“Leighton is the odd man out and local Conservatives (including Cllr Palmer) are flying the white flag over the White House.”

The statement continued: “I researched in January and reported to the town council that the total S106 infrastructure negotiated by CBC for planning applications in and around Leighton stood at £40 million and, of that, about £31 million remained unspent.

“The town council has never expressed any views whatsoever as to what projects in the town those monies should be used for.”

Cllr Owen said, at the request of Lib Dems, CBC planning officers ran a S106 workshop for town councillors on September 2 and assured members they were willing to discuss how the outstanding monies should be spent.

He said his proposal that the town council seek an urgent dialogue with CBC on the matter was voted down at a committee meeting on September 21.

When speaking to the LBO, Cllr Owen alleged that the town council planning committee “doesn’t question CBC about the money”, which he believes could be used for roads, lighting columns, bus stops, a new police station, improvements to the fire station, the health hub, a new doctors surgery on Billington Road, community open spaces, places of worship, cycling facilities, and more.

He claimed: “The town council ought to have a process of saying to CBC ‘these are the things we want negotiated with developers’ and the town council planning committee should ask for regular reports back from CBC about progress. The town council is letting the town down.”

Town council Conservative Leader, Cllr Steve Jones, says Lib Dem claims that S106 monies were a “pot of gold” to fix the town’s infrastructure needs were misleading.

He said such cash was reserved for alleviating the direct impact of a development within that development and was not available to redress wider infrastructure deficits (printed on page 18-19 of the October 6 edition of the LBO).

Meanwhile, Cllr Palmer, of Southcott ward, argues that there would be limited impact from producing a Neighbourhood Plan at this time.

He told the LBO: “I would say that the majority of developable sites in the town (certainly the significant ones) have already been designated.

“New Neighbourhood Plans will need to be in conformity with the Central Beds Local Plan as and when it is adopted, so now is perhaps not the best time to begin developing one.

“The costs of a Neighbourhood Plan depend on the area and issues covered. For example, a small parish looking principally to have one or two sites designated for development within its area is vastly different from a town like Leighton-Linslade and a comprehensive plan.

“I have raised the question of the advantages/disadvantages of a Neighbourhood Plan from late 2015 including more recently when I thought there might be a usefulness in having a Neighbourhood Plan for the town centre when it seemed the South Side development had lost any priority in Central Bedfordshire – a situation which we are assured has now changed.”

Cllr Palmer said a CBC officer had indicated it took, on average, four years for such plans to be developed.

He added: “Neighbourhood Plans have a place and no doubt will continue to do so and I pressed at the last council Policy and Finance Committee meeting [September 21] for the subject to be revisited in six months time rather than the 12 months being suggested.

“I do not see it as sensible at present, however, to ask the residents of the town to pay what would be a very large sum of money, and the council to divert significant human resource, to the development of a plan when the purpose and any benefits of it seem unclear.

“There are significant uncertainties arising from the recent Government White Paper on Planning for the Future on the relationship with Neighbourhood Plans, and we are in the midst of a pandemic which may well change the economic landscape as well as making the initiation and development of a plan with its consultative process and likely meeting requirements that much more difficult and time consuming.”

A Leighton Linslade Town Council spokesman, said: “Similar to the other 78 parish councils which make up Central Bedfordshire, Leighton-Linslade Town Council has no statutory powers to decide planning applications or negotiate and agree financial contributions known as S106 Agreements. These functions sit with Central Bedfordshire Council.

“Plan making responsibility and the creation and review of the Development Brief for Land South of the High Street is a Central Bedfordshire Council function and not of the Town Council.

“Whilst it wasn’t possible to discuss this item on Monday evening and arrive at a formal resolution, this does not compromise the on-going work being carried out by Central Bedfordshire Council in the review of the Development Brief for Land South of the High Street. Readers may recall that Central Bedfordshire Council held a drop-in session at the White House earlier in the year.

“Its purpose to capture the latest thinking on potential future uses for the site given the ever changing economic situation and the particular move away from retail presence within town centres by large scale multi-nationals. Despite the challenges thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Town Council will continue to lobby Central Bedfordshire on this strategically important town centre site.

“The Partnership Committee is to next meet in December and in early January, the Town Council will then meet to consider its own position on the matter. That is, the Town Council will decide the appropriateness or otherwise in the creation of a Neighbourhood Plan.

“The Partnership Project list was endorsed under Agenda Item 23 of Council meeting held on 28th September 2020. The list which sets out a total of 35 aspirations will be shared with Central Bedfordshire Council at the next meeting of the Partnership Committee. It is hoped that in doing this, it will raise the profile of these projects which the Town Council cannot deliver in isolation. Without funding, land or third party support such as Central Bedfordshire Council, statutory service providers, businesses and emergency services for example, it will prove very difficult to deliver on the suite of aspirations.”

The LBO asked Central Beds Council if they could confirm if Cllr Owen’s figure of £31m unallocated S106 money for Leighton-Linslade was correct, but the newspaper did not receive confirmation before going to press.

However, a CBC spokesman did state the following: “Section 106 contributions are secured towards specific projects such as schools, health and leisure facilities and through the grant of planning permission in order to mitigate the impacts of the development on local infrastructure.

“Payments are normally triggered at various stages in the development and are not all provided at day one. We work with stakeholders to ensure that they have access to information about the contributions we have secured and the specific projects that will be supported."

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